The Journey to Authenticity and True Freedom | Emma Galland

Born and raised in France, Emma Galland has always chased a life of freedom. Starting from the age of thirteen with a trip through the mountains of Ireland, she has traveled all over the world, constantly moving, changing, seeking new experiences, and trying new things.

Emma began her career in management consulting and eventually transitioned to entrepreneurship in health/wellness. As a nutritionist, yoga instructor, and fitness trainer, she created her own vegan superfood smoothie and loves teaching her Fit and Fab community to stay active and athletic in later years of life.  With her passion for health and fitness, she helps her clients with achieving their goals and their own form of freedom.

This is a fantastic conversation about speaking and living from the heart and discovering true freedom. 
 

Covered in this episode:

- How to remove the financial stress of transitioning to a nomadic or entrepreneurial lifestyle 
- How we limit ourselves based on what we think success looks like
- Why it is important to build a career that suits your lifestyle 
- How Emma defines “True Freedom” and how she discovered it 
- How standing up for yourself and speaking your truth is the ultimate act of self-love
- Why she's embarking on a solo motorcycle trip cross-country, and why she's not worried about how it will go
 
 

Connect with Emma:

Official Website: gojifitness.com

IG: @gojifitness

Zenberry Official Website: zenberrymix.com

IG: @zenberrymix

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Music: Jason Kay

Cover Art: Angela Spellman

Produced By Claudia Henock

Transcript

Julie B: 0:00

Welcome to Author Your Life, a podcast about making bold moves and big changes. Living life powerfully on your own terms, outside social norms and expectations. Through conversations with inspiring individuals who forge their own path in life, we'll explore what it takes to face your fears and go after your dreams. You are not a victim of circumstance, you can always begin again, start a new chapter and rewrite your story. This is Author Your Life, and I'm your host, Julie B. Let's get the conversation started. Hi, Emma.

Emma Galland: 0:44

Hi, Julie.

Julie B: 0:46

Oh, my gosh. Good morning. Welcome back to the United States.

Emma Galland: 0:50

Thank you.

Julie B: 0:51

I know you were just in France for close to a month?

Emma Galland: 0:55

Yes, visiting my family and my country, hadn't been there three and a half years. So it was overdue.

Julie B: 1:02

That must have been wonderful. So how was your day going, and what are you working on right now?

Emma Galland: 1:08

Every day is different in terms of lifestyle, but in terms of activities, it's it starts with 7, 6am or 7am group fitness classes online with my Fit and Fabulous community. They're a community of people that are generally, majority are above 60 years old, or 62, late 70s, and they are just athletic, and they want to continue growing young. So it's really great to start your day with people that aren that age, and in that mindset, it makes you look forward to getting old. Thinking about your age, and you just look at all the things you can do and all the possibilities. So that's that. And also great people that have built and continue building lives on their own terms. So it's really great. So I start the day with that, and then I have my regular client work. And then, afternoon is always a lot more flexible, so I can use it for computer work, or I can use it for adventure, as I'll tell you later, and I'm planning a trip. So I just came back from France, which was a workcation. so I continued working on East Coast time. Then I had all the mornings with me and my family. And then I'm heading out for a month, or month and a half, single, I'll solo motorcycle trip in the US. And I'll be carrying my work with me, and continuing to work part time while discovering all the beautiful places I wanted to see in the US and just be by myself and my motorcycle and a tiny little case. And that's it. So that's what I'm working on right now.

Julie B: 2:39

Amazing.

Emma Galland: 2:40

Thank you.

Julie B: 2:42

So Emma, when you look at your life today, is this where you thought you would be, about 5-10 years ago?

Emma Galland: 2:49

Yes, actually, it's where I thought I would be when I was 13. So it's been a long, it's always been how I wanted to live. I want it to be a nomad. That's the life that doesn't feel lost. So grounded to reality.

Julie B: 3:03

Not all those who wander are lost?

Emma Galland: 3:05

No, exactly. I'm doing exactly what I want to do, and it's been a process.

Julie B: 3:11

That is so cool. So can you say a little bit about how you got there? How did you create this life that you

Emma Galland: 3:18

So you know, there's different ways that you wanted? build a career. So as you know, I also had a background as a management consultant for one of the Big Fours. There's different ways you can build your career, you can either be a specialist, so you can like dig deeper and deeper and deeper and developing your skill and acquiring new training. So you become really sharp in one area. Or you can move up vertically up the ladder and within one field, or maybe I think management responsibilities, or you can have two other careers model, that would actually was my thesis in my MBA. So that's why I'm going with those models. Or you can have like a spiral model, which is like you start with one skill somewhere, and then you kind of like gravitate with neighboring skills and start building your career like this, you know, and then you just start somewhere and you end up somewhere very different. But you've had all those skills that added up. And that's more where I'm at. And then there's another one which is a career where can be like, doing like a nurse in a hospital one day, and then you're a truck driver in Australia next, and you're like working on a pipeline in Africa for oil and gas or like whatever, like it looks totally disjointed. So let's like there's a lot of different ways you can build a career, and my way has always been to be more of a spiral, and just grow skills that I would enable me to move laterally as well as vertically in organizations while acquiring skills that just made sense. I think you know, you just gravitate from, you know, being in a management consultant to being a personal trainer to being a yoga teacher to being a nutritionist to being somebody who created a superfood protein drink mix, I have a product so it's kind of like it's all in the health area, but there's been a lot of different types of jobs and sometimes self employed, sometimes with employers. So that's been that and then on the nomadic lifestyle when I was 13. So I've never, I'm French born and raised, my whole family's French, but I've never really felt I was French. I like good food, like, you know, nice clothes, and things like that. But I'm definitely not the traditional French person. So at 13, I told my parents I wanted to move. And they let me go alone to Ireland. That was my first time I went abroad by myself and I went to Ireland, and I hitch-hiked everywhere, 13 years old. And I was just like, you know, I had families here and there, but like, no, like, really got that thirst for adventure, and being on my own two feet and figuring things out by myself. And then I came home and because you had to go to school, came home, after a whole summer doing this. And I was like, I'm doing it again. So every year I went on my own somewhere, like then it was England, and it was Spain, and bla bla, it was always in Europe. And then when I turned 18, I went to college, and then I looked for, "Okay, where am I going to study abroad?" And so at the end of my, I did an Ivy League school in France, that prepares you for government work, or like you could work for the Minister of economics for your country, or whatever culture, whatever you can work in government. So you have politics, but you also have economics and you have you know, social culture and everything, languages. So, I already spoke Spanish and English and French at the time when I got to college. So I decided to look for where I could study. So when I graduated, my last year in college, I decided to go study in Sweden, because I wanted to be able to do a master's in English, but learn another language. And I want you to learn Swedish, most beautiful language on Earth, in my opinion, debatable. But that's for me. So I moved to Sweden when I was 21. And I never went back, like my parents said,"Okay, you are done with your studies here, you can go." And I moved to Sweden, and I did my MBA, I was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers versus Sweden. And then when I was with them, I said, "Okay, what's the biggest, boldest project this company has somewhere around the world because I want to be part of that." At the time, they were working with Nestle, you know, the food company, in the headquarters in Switzerland. I got accepted, move to Switzerland and move to Switzerland for three years, three years, almost three years. And every weekend, I would travel to a different country. I was like, "Where can I go with$50?" So there was like an airline Swiss Air, every Wednesday would release $50. You could go wherever you wanted. You could go to Tokyo for the weekend for 50 bucks, you know, things like that. Yeah, it was crazy. Like they would look, basically it was what was left over, last minute tickets exactly for a weekend. So everybody on my project team, which is like, "Okay, where are you going this weekend? Or where are you driving to?" So I decided to be that person anyway, was employable, worked in another country, and traveling in a weekend. So started to be in that mixing work, but also having a very flexible lifestyle, and being into health and fitness, and just how do you maintain your grounding, when everything else around you is going to moving and build your career because I went all the way up within PWC while having this life. So it started young, right, my 20s I'm 45 now. So I've got a little bit of experience in terms of change. And I always change my career within this firm every two years. So after two years of doing technology, I said, I'm done with this. Now I'm going to go you know with change management. Done with this, I'm going to go business processes. Done with this, I went to all different types of industries. So that's kind of a continuous learner mindset. I'm very curious. So now you can understand where I'm at today, about to take that crazy motorcycle trip with almost nothing on me, seriously. No, not many clothes, and just being able to continue being of service to my client as if I was in a office in Manhattan, you know. Long story short. That's why. it's a long story for like getting too long, long talk for answering your question, but I cannot, I hope it helps you understand, it didn't happen overnight. And I was always having also this employment from like a company that took care of my papers. So I could travel from different countries and PWC manage that, they let me build my own businesses also. So I we can talk about entrepreneurship later if you want. But as far as the lifestyle, and being comfortable with change, it's something I've built over the years.

Julie B: 9:34

It's, what I'm getting from that is, you, it's a practice. It's an active practice you...

Emma Galland: 9:39

It is.

Julie B: 9:40

You've taken trips on the weekends, you traveled, you went to new countries, and it's a skill and it's a practice that's just evolved and grown into...

Emma Galland: 9:48

Correct.

Julie B: 9:49

Where now you're going to take your motorcycle from New York down to Florida, and take a 30 day trip and just go be, just go be.

Emma Galland: 9:58

That's right.

Julie B: 9:59

Can you share bout the intention behind this trip and what you hope to gain from it?

Emma Galland: 10:03

So this is interesting, that's where, so being a health professional, in my career, once I became an entrepreneur left PWC, to be full time entrepreneur. We'll talk about those changes if you want to how you prepare financially for things like that. But, you know, I've always been more on the physical side of fitness, and wellness generally, you know, eat the right way, sleep well, have a good hygiene, you know, things like that, but not so much the spiritual side of things. And then in 2020 in January, I separated from my beloved husband. It's my decision, we're best friends, but we separated. And after a very, you know, 11 years, it's really difficult. So, I went through emotional upheaval that were very, very deep. And that's when I started to do what we call inner work, and really finding out what it is exactly that I want. I left a beautiful relationship that most people would have stayed in. There's more to life, and there's more to the kind of relationships that I want in my life. So it was like a really big bet, also there to see to make that change. And so I started to do a lot of more spiritual work about who am I, what do I really want in a partner? Because obviously had the best partner, but it was not the best maybe for me. So what exactly what's missing? What do I need to do? And so I decided, past the COVID, we stayed together during COVID for 10 months, to really first mourn together, we decided to mourn together and transition into a beautiful friendship, heal our hearts together, actually. And then I said,"Okay, I'm ready to just leave on my own and do a complete retreat with nobody, no one around me." And so December 2020, I moved out of our joint home, rented a house in Seabright, New Jersey on the beach. And for six months, I lived by myself, didn't see anybody was easy with the COVID issue, got all my food delivered and stuff, and really just got into focus on work, and spirituality, and yoga, and meditation, and journaling, had three spiritual coaches to really accelerate all the healing that we need to do. The way we behave in life is usually a reaction to things that have happened to us when we were younger. And throughout life, you know, like in school, with parents, with boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, like we have a lot of hurt along the way. And when we've been hurting along the way, we've usually developed mechanism in our body, or ways or patterns of behaviors and habits that are not really who we are at the core, but which were ways to protect ourselves against hurt in the past. And so this is the kind of work that I did in those six

months is: 12:50

Who am I if I had never been hurt? What kind of lover would I been if I had never been hurt? If I had never been left by a man or betrayed by a man or whatever? So who would I be if I was like, again, back from the womb, and hurt. And so this is going to work and I finished in June this year. And it became a completely different person and truly free. What I realized in all of the 30 years of travel is that it looks like I was free on the outside, because I've always wanted freedom. Freedom is my number one skill, but I realized that wasn't free. Like I was freedom of movement, but really you carry in your heart things. And with that work I've done I've discovered with true freedom is which means I no longer care about what anyone else is feeling or thinking about me, I no longer care about what society is asking me to do or be, meaning I can choose to surround myself with the people that I vibe with when I am my best self, you know, I have no more defenses, my heart is open, I trust a lot more easily. So all the things were, what that was, and what kind of job, and what kind of lifestyle, what kind of clients do I want? Like truly the people that are my soulmates in all aspects of my life, right? So that was kind of like that job. Coming back to the motorcycle trip now, it's an extension of this is like, what if I live that life and I really let life come to me. And I go on the road and see what happens. Like I've only have 30% of the nights covered. Honestly, like I was like 25 days, or 20 days, I have no idea where I'm going to sleep. And I'm not going to go on Airbnb, so I'm just gonna let that go and go with it. All I need is Wi Fi. That's it. So my work and my clients are VIPs and my priorities, the rest let's see what happens, because the truth is when you're truly free, you are able to enjoy life and remain worryfree through whatever happens in your life. And I know that in the past, I would have planned everything. Okay, I'm going to they're there, I have a route, of course, I know where I'm heading. But I don't really know the specifics of it. And I'm not worried about any of it. So that's kind of that and I'm just wondering, when I come back, what life will be like, kind of know where I'm going to leave, you know, but it may just be something totally different. Someone just asked me two days ago to go sail his boat back from New Zealand, back to San Diego in September, I was just going, "What if I was living on that boat with Wi Fi and teach from the water?" I'm a sailor, so that was my first job in France with being a sailing instructor. But you know, it's like this. So if you can leave life like that, and maintain beautiful relationships, but this is where I'm at right now. So that trip is just, it looks like a crazy thing on the outside, or like, "Wow, a great vacation!" But it's not like this for me. It's just embracing life to the fullest, because you may end tomorrow.

Julie B: 16:01

I mean, you touched on so much, so muchin that answer, thank you.

Emma Galland: 16:06

You're welcome.

Julie B: 16:07

Like just, you're talking about the work that you did, coming out of your partnership. And I really love what you said about he's the perfect guy, when maybe not the perfect guy for you. And having the inner strength and self awareness to know that and recognize that is huge. Can you say a little bit about how you feel about yourself towards the end of that relationship compared to today?

Emma Galland: 16:36

Yep. So I think it's the bravest thing I've ever done. I have to tell you to stand up for myself and just say, "This is who I am, this is what I need." And this person telling me, "I know, and I can't deliver this, it's not who I am." And me being able to say this, trusting him and his ability to handle it. I have so much respect for that man, you know, in a relationship, you compromise. And it's an amazing person. So I compromise but not the only important thing. That was one thing that was important that I said, "Okay, I could compromise with that until you can't," but we always talked about it. But came that moment where I realized that I wasn't fully myself, and I wasn't free, because I was so compromised. Actually, this is what I want to say is, I believe in our life, the work we do, the experiences we have is to become the best person that we are and embrace all of what we are. And I felt that this compromise was me, minus 20%. And so if I wanted to be fully myself, and in this life, so I, I being a yogi, I kind of believe really been, you know, the Buddhism kind of thing. I believe there's multiple lives. But there's only one life where I will be the way I am. Looking this way, and with this, this history that shaped me with those kinds of emotion, and thought pattern, way I think, way I feel, the way I draw, there only one life where I'll be exactly like this, right? And there'll be older form ofother former lives where I'll be, you know, different makeup. And so what is my full makeup is what I wanted to know. What if I am indeed this thing that I've been compromising? I'll never fully experienced what that is like. And so I had so much fear, because I didn't want to hurt him. And because I thought, comparing myself to the rest of society, I had the perfect marriage. And I was like, what are they going to people think about? I'm 45, I don't have children, it's gonna be a divorce, going to be failure, like other things. And you know, will I ever find someone else, I'm going to get older, my body will decrepit. Things like that, my own fear. And then I had also, I didn't want to hurt this beautiful soul, but then I realized that if I'm not the right person, for him, there is somebody else for him. So I find courage. And by standing up for myself, I really showed myself self love. And so it saved us that I was able to do this because my bravery, because I felt like this is the bravest thing I've ever done. And I've done amazing, crazy things on my trips. This was bravery. And I sat down, January one, told this story, he looked at me, said, "I know." We both cried, and that was it. But I trusted his strength that he could take it, and he could deal with it. And I learned that we are not responsible for other people's reactions or emotions. It took me 45 years to understand this, 44-45 time. My job is to be honest with myself and with others. That's it, and then stops here and then it's the other person will be able to then take it, do what they need to do with it and move their queen or king...

Julie B: 19:57

They'll respond, you're like doing this gesture like a chessboard?

Emma Galland: 20:01

Yeah. A Chessboard.

Julie B: 20:03

If you show up in your authentic truth and you share what's on your heart, you can't control how they're going to react. So you just have to wait and see, wait for them to make their move...

Emma Galland: 20:12

Yes!

Julie B: 20:12

Or respond.

Emma Galland: 20:14

But people will always respect you for having said the truth, even if it breaks their world and your world entirely. Mark Grove had said that, I'd rather, "If a truth is going to break a marriage, a friendship, a society, a company, whatever, it is that they were held together in lies." Right? So my relationship was great, as long as I wasn't 100%, who I want it to be who I am. So that was a lie, even though it's a beautiful relationship, and with a lot of truth, come a time in your life, and in your maturity, and my lifestyle, when you are healthy. That's very important. You can't do this, if you're unhealthy. I've reached a level in my health, when I'm very strong physically, have really great, you know, like, I'm so healthy physically, then you're able to go to the under layer, when the body doesn't hurt, then you can hear your soul. And then that's when the soul is starting to want to expand because your body's so healthy, your heart want to expand, your soul wants to expand, and you can less and less tolerate not being truly yourself at your core. I had a lot of illnesses earlier and when I don't if you want to talk about that, but when I was dealing with my autoimmune disorders, it was the last time that I could consider a career change. It's when I healed my autoimmune diseases, and I could consider leaving the stability of a job, right, and then had another job, and and had another illness, and and just going through a divorce, when you're dealing with a physical illness, you're going to heal. So there are just so many layers to handling change. I would a lot of people come to me with health issues as a holistic nutritionist, and I can see the stem from a career issue, or an abusive relationship. But you can't tackle that until you have calmed down the physical body, and you feel secure in your foundation, your physical foundation, so that you can then extend into changing other areas of your life. So who I am now today is this, is like the person who feels so proud of herself, who saved the relationship because she was honest with the man that she loved and still do love. And it saved her love itself, saved our friendship. I'm actually here, you know, common home. So I'm proud of myself, and I'm not the same person I was a month ago, Julie, and not the same person that you met way back when we you know, when we hang out together four months ago, I'm from a day to the next day, I have no idea who I am, I am truly who I am. And then no more have any conception of who Emma is, because I don't really know. But what I know is that she speaks and does things that are from the heart. That's where I'm at right now.

Julie B: 22:58

Yes, oh, absolutely. And I love how you were talking about freedom. And the idea that on the outside, you were free, because you were traveling and going all these places and doing what you wanted. Yet, on the inside, you weren't free because you weren't fully expressing your authentic self. And I also love what you talked about being healthy, and how your physical body needs to be healthy in order for you to be in a position where you can think about fully expressing yourself. That makes so much sense. Like if you're dealing with a catastrophe in life, like a very stressful job, or unhealthy relationship. Or if you're in physical pain and injury, all those things are going to be at the forefront of your mind.

Emma Galland: 23:51

Correct.

Julie B: 23:51

You're not going to have the energy to tap into yourself and really ask yourself, "What is it that I want or what is important to me?" So I just wanted to highlight that, because it really emphasizes the importance of taking care of yourself.

Emma Galland: 24:08

Yes, and only once you have the energy to tackle a lot of project, but you will also not be in the right disposition. Because when your body is sick, there is fear. Because I specialize a lot in autoimmune diseases, I learned connection, very early on, between the gut and the immune system,and also the gut and the brain, which is now more common sense, right? So all your ilnesses start from the gut, all of them, even cancer, even Alzheimer's, it all started in the gut. Could have been 10 years, 20-30 years prior, but it starts in the gut. And so if your gut is under stress, you will only have stressful emotions. You'll have negative self talk, you'll have lack of confidence, you have all of those things, I'm not even talking about energy, about talking about like it, "I can't do that or you know, I'm not good enough," I'm like, you'll never be able to have that place of feeling calm, peaceful, and confident, mind less, of course, the energy, you know what I mean? So, and that's when you start seeing the solution. I have people who are like, "I don't see how I can change that", I'm like, you can't change, you can't even see all of the possibilities until we fix your stomach ulcer. That's it, like just stomach ulcer, we can't do anything, you will not be able to find a solution until then. So just, that's it.

Julie B: 25:36

It's like the difference between being in survival mode and thriving.

Emma Galland: 25:41

Yes!

Julie B: 25:41

You do it at the same time.

Emma Galland: 25:43

Yeah, but sometimes you do have to max it out. I'll finish this though, it starts in a physical body. But a lot of the reason why the physical body breaks down, it's because of mental issues. I'm not saying crazy, but I'm saying, because of the worry for work, because of the stress of not living an authentic life. After a while, all of these mental or emotional stress wears down the physical body, right? So, but the job sometime, in order to start a healing process is not to fix what's causing you mental pain, it's just being recognizing the source of it. And once you recognize, oh, it's because of these paths. Just knowing and understanding what makes you sick. You don't have to fix it yet, but will release so much stress already. And then you can start healing. So that's just to give you an idea, right? So you definitely just need to be working on your health, mental, physical, emotional, and what will happen is, it's maybe crazy to say that, but I've always been driven in terms of my studies, you know, I'm going to do this, this university, and then I'm going to do this kind of work, and then I'm going to live like this. Like I always had plans, and I just went for it and worked hard and did it. Now, I have zero plans. That's the amazing thing, when you reach the work that I've done, and you're there, you're just now like, right now, I'm with your Julie. I don't know, like, you know, what few things here and there planned, have meetings set, but I can, I don't really have a plan. I've been living month to month, since my marriage broke. I was like, I don't know, like, I'm not looking for someone else. I don't know where I'm going to live, I don't like, I have no idea. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Because once you're in that place, that you feel good with yourself. You don't need anyone else. It's great. If you find someone else, you just can bring yourself the way you are. But you don't need to. You just need to have, love what you do, be of service, do it perfectly. But even with I do as a job, I thought, "What's my purpose? What kind of job do I need to do that I feel like I'm really have purpose?" And like, I have to tell you, I don't even matter anymore. I don't think I have a purpose. My purpose is to do well, what I decide to do. So I chose a job. And I'm doing it so well. And it brings me satisfaction. But that said, I don't identify with this job anymore. I don't identify with my career. I don't identify with my age, nothing. I've reached the point where I just want to do everything well, and I want to do good in people's lives, and just be happy. And so if I die tomorrow, in motorcycle accident, knock, knock, that won't happen. But I'll be okay. Because I will have finally reached a level, and it's a lot more soul work I can do. But I've reached the level of where I feel at peace.

Julie B: 28:37

I love that.

Emma Galland: 28:37

And I don't need anyone else. You know,

Julie B: 28:40

Yeah.

Emma Galland: 28:40

I want someone but I don't need it. I don't need anything. That's freedom. You don't need anything.

Julie B: 28:47

Yes.

Emma Galland: 28:47

You know?

Julie B: 28:48

I love that. Emma, it's so amazing to listen to you. And like you're emanating freedom and peace and ease. I'm thinking about someone who might be listening and thinking, "Wow, that sounds amazing. And I just, but what about where does the money come from? And what will my friends think in? I don't know." How do you deal with the unknown?

Emma Galland: 29:14

Yeah, so let's talk about the money piece too, because it's the US. It's a very US focused question. I think money and belongings and material possessions and status and other things. So the first thing that I did when I left PWC, and first advice is live within your means. I don't have any credit card debt, so I live within my means. So I used to own a really big house in Brooklyn next to Prospect Park, like brick house historic from 1893. I totally restored it perfectly. But I worked for a company that paid me really well for all purposes. I have a great salary, great house, and then I decided to become an entrepreneur. I could pay my mortgage, but for how long, and the thing is the stress of what if I can't pay my mortgage. After a while you're like, "I don't want to work to pay a mortgage. Like, what if I sell the house and buy something in full? I don't even have a mortgage. What if I don't even have a mortgage?" Okay, so I sold, this is the house of my dreams, like exactly the house, I've always dreamt of having. I had it for seven years and selling, it wasn't easy. But selling and knowing I'll never have a mortgage because then I bought an apartment that was smaller and paid in full. I was like, "Oh my god, this is amazing!" I have an asset with no mortgage, and I can leave and it just rented and I'm okay. You know, and I have some money in a bank. But whatever you do, even if you just don't own anything, just make sure that you'd never worry about, "Can I pay for it?" So that's the first thing for me was removing this. And then how much do you need to leave. And if you have to move, see the I move down in Manhattan too! It's really expensive. I moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I prefer being in Manhattan. But hey, I didn't want to have to pay so much money. So I've always more and more I went into living tiny because what I wanted, this the quest for freedom I've had since I was little, I didn't understand it. I understand it's like you have money, so you're free to do whatever you want, because you can pay for it. And as I explained, this is not true freedom, it took me so long to discover. But so little by little I started to be more financially free, making difficult choices to leave places I loved. One thing I told myself is this house is my dream house with a garden in the city, and I, oh my god, you should have seen it. But like this house was here before I was born. Born in 1976, this house is like has like 70 years on me and this house will be here when I'm gone. Even if I have my name on paper, I don't own it, I don't own anything. There's this Guruji that I love. It's a Sadhguru Ji who said, "We were born with nothing, nothing at all, you're born naked." So you're born with, with like zero in the bank. Whatever else you have, in addition, in your life, you're already in credit, like anything you own, you have a plus, even if you know what I mean. And you're going to die alone, and you're going to die with nothing, like you're not gonna take anything with you. So if you think about those two extreme, anything else you have, in addition, it's your choosing. It's a bonus, anything you own, like this iPhone, right? I didn't have that when I was born coming out of the womb. So that's kind of the way I look at it. And so don't think that you're stuck by the things you own. Because you didn't have them when you were born. So if something you own, or if lifestyle configuration makes you feel stuck and pressures you to do additional things in order to sustain, you a slave you enslaved. Right. So it started like this. So what I did is reduced all the cost, made sure I had some credit card, you know, like revolving debit,$2,000 here that you know that things like that, just get rid of it. And then start really, and then you become barebone. And I like that style of thinking about the tiny houses, but it started like this, and then you make the money that enables you to live the life you want. I don't really need anything. I just love great foods, I put my money in food. I love my motorcycle. So I've put things on there. But like I really don't buy anything anymore. You know?

Julie B: 33:25

Yeah.

Emma Galland: 33:25

So it's amazing. So then you can and my mindset is you can always make more money. But you can never buy time.

Julie B: 33:34

Yeah.

Emma Galland: 33:35

Okay. So that's that.

Julie B: 33:38

Your strategy was to create the lifestyle that, so that you don't have the added stress.

Emma Galland: 33:46

Exactly.

Julie B: 33:46

Into practice. And I also love what you just said about we're born with nothing and will die with nothing. And that really presents to me to the fact that everything in life is temporary.

Emma Galland: 34:02

Yes!

Julie B: 34:02

Like all the physical objects, they come and they go and the people they come and they go and it's really the experience that you're having while you're alive. It can change at any moment. That's the premise of this podcast.

Emma Galland: 34:15

Exactly.

Julie B: 34:16

It's not like an end goal. It's really an experience.

Emma Galland: 34:20

That's right. And it's so liberating to think, to feel this way, and your brain also starts to change when you think this way. I don't see anything as impossible, so I would see for instance, some American and say, "Well I can't do that. I wish I could do what you do, but I can't do that because I have this, this, and that." You were born with nothing you go with nothing! Anything else in between is your choosing. I can't because I have a husband, I have these have that. No, no. I had a husband I have no more husband. The thing is you're leaving your husband if you're in love is the right guide. Okay, but I've have my kids and I have them like, "Oh, but you don't know you don't have kids," and like it's a choice. You know, and I have lots of people are able to raise your children in many ways. I know two couples that kids are living on boats actually, around the world like, there is no construct, whatever you do is your own construct. So never say I have to do that, or I have to do that honestly, like, I have, like, you know, I have two kids, I need to have a house with two houses like, no, you don't. So whatever you decide, is your own limited construct that says,"This is the box I fit in. And this is what success looks like." But it could be anything.

Julie B: 35:26

Yeah!

Emma Galland: 35:27

You can be a doctor, you're doctor, you can be a doctor in the US, you can be a doctor somewhere else. Like just it's, so I no longer see any obstacle to anything, I only see choices. The difficulty in life is to choice. That's the only difficulty in life is the choice. It's as synchronistic, is that the word in English, like when you're not synchronized. So yeah, with your choices, like when you leave, you want something, but you make the choices that actually don't want that.

Julie B: 35:53

Ah misaligned.

Emma Galland: 35:54

Misaligned, then you unhappy, you know, that's the thing, if you really want something and everything you've chosen and built is against what you really want, you're not going to be happy. So you have to stop doing a lot of things. Right?

Julie B: 36:07

You feel weighed down. Like you were saying earlier, just the physical manifestation of that misalignment, the subconscious mental stress of trying to maintain a life that looks a certain way, that's not actually what you truly want and feel, that takes energy, and that can actually suck energy out of you.

Emma Galland: 36:27

Oh my god, here's a big load that I've let go this summer. It's pleasing my parents, I've been a people pleaser all my life. And I did the studies my parents wanted me to do, I wanted to do something else. And on the side, I did all the fitness that they wanted me to do, like a serious university, so that I would have a good steady job so that I would work for a management consulting company. All I wanted to do is was a physiotherapist and a fitness trainer, a yoga teacher, and a traveler, and a nomad. That's what I wanted, like, Lib and Tory, two different lives, right? So I did everything with my parents and my parents would say your body looks too muscular or you're this and that or you do this out of kindness. But for me, I was to get very personal and aside to change and do things in order to please them. And it became a burden every time I would come home, to see my family. I love my family, but I would always feel judged. And then you would end up having arguments or like, you know, just, you know, kind of resisting a little bit your mom and having a little bit of arguing. I decided upon on my own journey, I realized they have their own journey to do. They have their own parents issues. And their parents had their own grandparents issues. And they were not as open about all these, like, soul work that our generation has. So as to actually see my parents with compassion. That's what changed. Because when I told my ex husband, it's over. And I was feeling so much guilt, so much guilt for breaking his heart that guilt led to compassion, self compassion, like I was, I'm a good person, I did the best I could, and I'm being honest. So then come with your parents situation, the parents that are just basically telling you things and about, you know, in my culture, you listen to what your parents say, and it ends up being like, "Oh, you take different decisions because of someone else's agenda." I decided, you know, they, they said of things because they love me. And I have to stop reacting to this. They have to be compassionate towards them. They have their own wounds. And they're not working on them the way I work on mine. Because I know more, I have more knowledge. So then, when I went back home this summer, I met them, my mom, dad, brother, sister, two years ago in Spain. So we meet sometime not in France, but I hadn't been in France in a while and seen everybody else, and it was just pure love from the beginning to the end. I saw the same exact patterns that I've always had. And I knew that there I would have said that, I would have done that, I would have studied to have, actually, some flare ups of my autoimmune disorders because every time I would go home, I was having sickness in my gut. I was having diarrhea and vomiting. Like all the things, I will not digest the food. Food I grew up on, right? So I'm like, "Okay, this is definitely not a food issue." This is a parent-kid issue. None of this this year, I could see all of this with that distance. And I realize, I know why they're doing this, and I know where it's coming from. So I asked about the history more, about how they grew up, where they grew up. What traumatic events, I actually dig in there, I asked like why are you afraid of expressing this emotion? Like I don't feel safe at home to be complaining because there's no complaining and crying aloud in this house. Okay, why is that? So sad to see that response and see how they were struggling also, it was like just amazing. So I did that kind of talk with them on the phone, several months ago, so that when I get home, it's a totally different thing. And now it is like it changed everything. Like I feel so much love and compassion for them. And this was the last area in my life where I felt not fully free, like I was doing things in order to please others, it's gone. Once you actually fix your issues with your parents, like, a lot of work is done because you're back to back to when I was like in my teens, right? I don't want you to remember anything as a baby anymore. But I've gotten all the work through then. And so that's really great. I don't have to force myself for any clients. Because the clients I have in my life are amazing. They are exactly my soulmate. And they are the ones that I need to grow. And I'm the one they need to grow. I don't have to force myself with any friends, I've changed all my network, I figured out which are the real friends, which are not. And I don't need to see and pretend with the ones that I'm not the friends and there's more room for new ones. And that's kind of like that, and you have the parents conversation, the ex boyfriends conversations as a whole different story. I went through the phone and just went back to everyone I could track back since my teens, and had conversation closing conversation. I'm telling you a lot of things that I want to say, this is the journey to feeling truly authentic. And when you start and when you start understanding why you do what you do. Because of things you did for others, people pleasing others, then you have no more attachment and links to anyone that isn't in alignment with you, who you truly are. So I have to say the reason why you and I truly are just so close together it's like I'm fully myself with you, and you're fully yourself with me. And it's I can promise that to everybody that I'm with. And the way that I work with my clients to now they know that I'm not going to be a cheerleader just to be a cheerleader and get their dollars, you know.

Julie B: 41:50

Yeah.

Emma Galland: 41:51

So I'm telling them the truth. I'm also telling them when the relationship is over, because I think they know enough. They don't need me. Or I tell them, so things like that, you know, that's the work.

Julie B: 42:04

So amazing, Emma. Okay, we are going to wrap this up. Like I would love to hear so much more. And there's so much more I want to ask you, but I want to like be respectful of the time. So I'm going to ask you some rapid fire questions. So just try to give me like a quick one to two word answer. Something I wish I could tell my younger self.

Emma Galland: 42:25

Love yourself and learn this life is about you and learning who you are.

Julie B: 42:31

I'm currently loving.

Emma Galland: 42:36

Myself.

Julie B: 42:37

I'm most proud of

Emma Galland: 42:40

Myself.

Julie B: 42:42

My biggest personal accomplishment.

Emma Galland: 42:45

Speaking my truth.

Julie B: 42:47

My superpower is.

Emma Galland: 42:51

Change agility.

Julie B: 42:54

My kryptonite is.

Emma Galland: 42:57

Injustice.

Julie B: 42:59

And my favorite way to spend an afternoon

Emma Galland: 43:03

Sailing on a boat to shucking oysters.

Julie B: 43:07

Love that! So Emma, if anyone would love to get in touch with you, and just connect, or learn more about your work. ZenBerry, your company your Fit and Fab community? Where can people find you?

Emma Galland: 43:23

My website is gojifitness.com. So G O J I, like a goji berry. Goji fitness F I T N E S S.com And it's also the same word for my Instagram account and Facebook. And then there's Zenberry, my superfood nutrition mix is zenberrymix.com. So zen like zen, berry like a berry, mix.com. Zenberrymix.com.

Julie B: 43:53

Awesome.

Emma Galland: 43:55

Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Julie B: 43:58

You're so welcome. Thank you. Thank you for contributing, and sharing, like your whole journey. It's wonderful. It's really wonderful to see, because I've known you for a few years now. And just the difference is remarkable. And I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

Emma Galland: 44:15

So grateful to have you in my life. You are just as amazing.

Julie B: 44:21

Thank you so much for joining this conversation. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to leave a review and five star rating. Be sure to hit subscribe to catch all future episodes. I would love to know who's listening. If this podcast was valuable, please share with a friend. Take a screenshot, and post to your social media along with your biggest takeaway from today's episode. Hashtag#authoryourlifepodcast , and tag me @itsjulieb_ along with our guests from today. Your support helps this podcast grow. Until next time, friends. Keep writing your story and Author Your Life.